WD540(45)

‘The White Elephant Palace, within Royal Palace grounds.’

THIS building, the state room, as it may be termed, of the far famed ‘Lord White Elephant’ of Ava, is situated in the same grounds and on the same line with the Royal Palace. It is only necessary to place this drawing on the right of the exterior view of the King’s Palace, panorama-wise, to shew its exact position. The animal’s ordinary and humbler dwelling may be seen beyond the tree.

The building is formed and ornamented after the manner of the sacred triple roofed Tzoums, in which the figures of Gautma are enshrined. The White Elephant, however, is not (as frequently supposed) an object of sacred but only of royal regard. The interior of the building is painted and gilt in the customary manner, and the floor boarded.

The sketch of the Royal animal himself here seen, was seized as he was re-entering the archway, after having been taken out for the purpose of being photographed by Captain Tripe; a concession which was made after some little difficulty and objections, and not until the whole of the golden umbrellas, eight in number, pertaining to his state, had been prepared and spread to protect him from possibility of danger by exposure to the sun!

The long line of buildings in rear form the Royal stables, and a Burmese stable, judging by these, and one examined elsewhere, are models of neatness, cleanliness, and comfort.